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2022 Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in New Jersey

7 Ranked Colleges
722 Degrees Awarded
$19,700 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor's in New Jersey

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. College Factual has developed its “Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in New Jersey” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

In 2019-2020, 72,122 people earned their degree in parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies, making the major the 15th most popular in the United States. In 2017-2018, parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $29,823 and had an average of $24,576 in loans still to pay off.

Across New Jersey, there were 962 parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $32,743 and $22,383 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 722 parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $39,288 and $24,807 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in New Jersey” ranking, we looked at 7 colleges that offer a degree in parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies programs, but they also cost less that schools of similar quality.

To come up with these rankings, we looked at factors such as the cost to attend the school after aid is awarded and overall quality of the parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies program at the school. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

One Size Does Not Fit All

When choosing the right school for you, it’s important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we’ve created a number of major-specific rankings, including this “Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in New Jersey” list to help you make the college decision.

We’ve created a tool called College Combat that lets you create your own customized comparisons based on the factors that matter the most to you. If you’re torn between two schools, you can use it to help you see how they stack up against one another. Bookmark it so you can compare any new schools that might interest you.

Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in New Jersey

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in New Jersey.

Top 7 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies in New Jersey

#1

Rutgers University - New Brunswick

New Brunswick, New Jersey
#2 in overall quality

Out of the 7 schools in the Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in New Jersey that were part of this year’s ranking, Rutgers University - New Brunswick landed the #1 spot on the list. Located in New Brunswick, New Jersey, this large public school awarded 384 degrees to qualified bachelors’s parks and rec students in 2019-2020.

Rutgers New Brunswick not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #2 on our “Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in New Jersey” list. The estimated yearly cost for Rutgers New Brunswick is $21,654 for new jersey bachelor’s degree parks & rec students.

With a freshman retention rate of 93%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. The low student loan default rate of 3.6% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%.

Read more about Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Rutgers University - New Brunswick

#2

Kean University

Union, New Jersey
#3 in overall quality

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Kean University. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in New Jersey. Located in Union, New Jersey, this fairly large public school awarded 29 degrees to qualified bachelors’s parks and rec students in 2019-2020.

Kean did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #3 on our “Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in New Jersey” list. The estimated yearly cost for Kean is $18,604 for new jersey bachelor’s degree parks & rec students.

Full Kean Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Report

#5 in overall quality

Out of the 7 schools in the Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in New Jersey that were part of this year’s ranking, William Paterson University of New Jersey landed the #3 spot on the list. William Paterson University of New Jersey is a medium-sized school located in Wayne, New Jersey that handed out 100 bachelors’s parks and rec degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our new jersey bachelor’s degree parks & rec students list, William Paterson University has also earned the #5 rank in our “Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in New Jersey” ranking. The yearly cost to attend William Paterson University is $19,547 for new jersey bachelor’s degree parks & rec students.

With a freshman retention rate of 90%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at William Paterson University of New Jersey

#4

Montclair State University

Montclair, New Jersey
#4 in overall quality

Out of the 7 schools in the Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in New Jersey that were part of this year’s ranking, Montclair State University landed the #4 spot on the list. Montclair State University is a public institution located in Montclair, New Jersey. The school has a large population, and it awarded 66 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our new jersey bachelor’s degree parks & rec students list, Montclair State has also earned the #4 rank in our “Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in New Jersey” ranking. It costs about $18,034 for new jersey bachelor’s degree parks & rec students per year to attend Montclair State.

The low student loan default rate of 4.6% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%.

Full Montclair State University Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Report

#5

Georgian Court University

Lakewood, New Jersey
#6 in overall quality

Out of the 7 schools in the Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in New Jersey that were part of this year’s ranking, Georgian Court University landed the #5 spot on the list. Georgian Court is located in Lakewood, New Jersey and, has a small student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 24 bachelors’s parks and rec degrees to qualified students.

Georgian Court did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #6 on our “Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in New Jersey” list. The yearly cost to attend Georgian Court University is $18,121 for New Jersey Bachelor’s Degree Parks & Rec students.

Read more about Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Georgian Court University

#6

Seton Hall University

South Orange, New Jersey
#1 in overall quality

Seton Hall University came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in New Jersey ranking. Seton Hall University is a medium-sized school located in South Orange, New Jersey that handed out 29 bachelors’s parks and rec degrees in 2019-2020.

Seton Hall also took the #1 spot in our “Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in New Jersey” ranking. It costs about $29,845 for New Jersey Bachelor’s Degree Parks & Rec students per year to attend Seton Hall University.

The student loan default rate at the school is 4.5%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Full Seton Hall University Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Report

#7

Saint Peter's University

Jersey City, New Jersey
#7 in overall quality

Saint Peter’s University landed the #7 spot on the 2022 Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in New Jersey ranking. This small school is located in Jersey City, New Jersey, and it awarded 28 bachelors’s parks and rec degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our new jersey bachelor’s degree parks & rec students list, Saint Peter’s College has also earned the #7 rank in our “Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in New Jersey” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Saint Peter’s University is $11,957 for new jersey bachelor’s degree parks & rec students.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Saint Peter’s College

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Notes and References

References

  • The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of our data about colleges.
  • Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
  • Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.

Read more about our data sources and methodologies

Footnotes

  • *Average salary, average net price, and average tuition and fees are for the top schools only.
  • Some schools otherwise deserving of recognition may have been removed from this ranking in the event that new data identified post-publication warranted it, or at the request of the school.

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